“Mountain Movers” Episode to Feature Snowboard Pro, Jamie Anderson’s Attempt to Clear a Massive Road Gap Jump and Set a New Record for Female Snowboarders

Snow Park Technologies’ “Monster Jump” at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort to Air Thursday, June 6 at 8pm ET/PT on The National Geographic Channel

June 04, 2013

Professional snowboarder Jamie Anderson has had it in her mind for years that she wants to jump over a busy mountain road in what is technically backcountry terrain at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, the Lake Tahoe resort she’s called home since she was a child. In this week’s episode of “Mountain Movers,” the Snow Park Technologies (SPT) crew will build a one-of-a-kind 65-foot road gap for Jamie as she attempts to break a snowboarding record and become the first female rider to jump that distance.

“Jamie has been asking for a long time if we can do something special for her,” said John Rice, general manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort. “This road gap jump that she wants to do is kind of a next level thing for her. I don’t think anyone has tried to accomplish what we’re going to try to do with her.”

The crew will face a variety of challenges on this build, including the fact that they must keep the road Jamie will attempt to jump over clear of snow throughout the build. It is the same road that gets skier traffic into and out of the resort each day, and cannot be closed.

“This is a high consequence jump. It’s not like a jump in a terrain park. She has to go at least 65-feet to clear the gap. But, she’s really got to go 80-feet to hit the sweet spot in the landing,” said Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson, owner of Snow Park Technologies. “That’s a couple of school buses stacked end-to-end. It’s four cargo-shipping containers. Seven or eight cars. That’s no joke.”

“Monster Jump”

Thursday, June 6, at 8 p.m. ET/PT

At only 22 years old, Jamie Anderson is a six-time Winter X gold medalist making a huge impact on the slopestyle community. This young female phenom consistently sticks runs on some of the hardest courses in the world. For this build, Gunny will create a mega jump in the backcountry of the property at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort exclusively for Anderson. But the massive size of this jump isn’t the craziest part of his vision — the plan is to have Jamie fly over a 65-foot wide asphalt road. If completed, Jamie will be the first female to land a jump of this magnitude, and if she succeeds there’s no doubt she will go down in history. With Mike Binnell as project manager, Gunny has also assigned Mike Bettera to work with the crew. However, what appears to be a basic jump turns out to be a major ordeal for the SPT team once the problems begin to mount.

Mountain Movers is produced by Good Clean Fun for the National Geographic Channel. For Good Clean Fun, Jason Carbone and Sarah Kane are executive producers. For National Geographic Channel, executive producer is Michael Mavretic, senior vice president of programming and development is Kevin Mohs, executive vice president of programming is Michael Cascio and president is Howard T. Owens. General Motors is a co-producing partner and Chevrolet is the lead media partner of Mountain Movers. For more information about Mountain Movers, visit http://www.snowparktech.com or National Geographic Channel.

About Snow Park Technologies

Snow Park Technologies (SPT) is the world’s leading consulting team for special projects on snow. SPT’s wide range of expertise includes designing and building some of the most renowned resort terrain parks and halfpipes; high-profile ski and snowboard competition courses; and countless on-snow productions. SPT also provides event production services, sport organizing and marketing services aimed at youth categories. The SPT team is a collection of the most experienced and talented freestyle park and pipe innovators in the world, whose dedication and passion for snow sports has redefined the winter landscape and what is possible on snow. For more information, visit SPT’s website at http://www.snowparktech.com and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/snowparktech, Twitter @snowparktech and Instagram @snowparktech.